Last week's column brought a great deal of reader response. I love that! It seems more than a few of you have been asked to present your W2s as proof of former wages or answer "forbidden" questions, because many of the emails I received offered "Here's what I did" scenarios. In regard to offering up W2s, responses ranged from "I submitted a redacted version" to "I hated giving it to them as we were negotiating a salary (but) in this employment climate you do not want to give any reason for any employer to say 'no' to you."

One former human resource professional said, "I always felt very uncomfortable doing that (asking for a W2). Most people complied without much questioning, but it was not a fun thing to do!"

Perhaps the message here is: "Don't kill the messenger."

Very often, hiring managers and interviewers are simply following orders. Like you, they may dislike a specific practice, feel uncomfortable asking for certain information, or secretly despise online applications (seriously, who doesn't), but they're just trying to do their jobs.

Then again, some interviewers really don't care, as illustrated by the following reader's experience.

"After a two year retirement, I decided I wanted to return to work in a very bad economy. So, I decided I was going to at least have fun with my interviews when I got them. I started keeping a pad and pen by me to keep track of the number of times an interviewer tried to get answers to the forbidden questions. One of the best was a guy from Mississippi who spent most of the interview trying to figure out how old I was. Finally, in a fit of frustration, he came right out and asked me! I told him he couldn't legally ask me that, to which he replied, 'I don't give a damn about those laws!' At that point I said that if he had no regard for the laws of the United States, how could I ever expect him to be honest with me, or back me up on anything I did. Based on that, I told him, 'I do not believe I really want to work for your company!'"

What makes this story even better is that the reader is a retired owner of a human resource management firm.

But the best story I read this week was from a reader who cited a most unusual interview request.

"Years ago, at the end of a second interview I was asked if I would mind helping to unpack some new office furniture that had just been delivered. I thought long and hard for a nanosecond. Was this a test? Was this a trick question? Did I hear the interviewer correctly? Of course I said, 'yes,' rolled up my sleeves, loosened my tie and unboxed a file cabinet and some desk chairs."

Here's the kicker: he didn't get the job! He ended his story with this piece of advice: "Reputable employers will not ask you to compromise your personal safety or integrity for the sake of finding a job ... but their human resource offices might walk a fine line."

What would you do? I would have helped unbox the cabinet and chairs. That's just who I am. And maybe that's the best lesson to take away from all of these stories — whether on the job or interviewing for one, you have to be true to you.

Personal integrity is huge. It may be the most important trait you bring to an employer. It's at the very heart of being a team player, being conscientious about your work, and being dependable. That's why recommendations, on paper or online (think LinkedIn) are so important and why networking is so very helpful. When a trusted associate says, "I'm recommending this person to you" it speaks volumes about that person's integrity.

Would you ever recommend someone this way? "He's a creep, but he a great engineer." And if you did, don't you think you'd have questions to answer?"

Of course you would. Companies want to hire people who exhibit integrity professionally and often privately — which brings me to this week's question about Facebook.

"How do employers/perspective employers gain access to an individual's Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts, even when privacy settings are set to 'not public'?"

The short answer is, "They shouldn't." Technically it is a violation of Facebook's privacy policy for employers to use Facebook as a recruiting tool, but we all know the practice is far from uncommon. So, here's the long answer:

When employers see things about us that we don't want the public to see, it's typically because we let them. Sadly, we're not always as careful with Facebook as we think we are. Check on any "private" person's Facebook page and you will most likely be able to find a wall full of comments, identified (tagged) photos, or a list of that person's friends. It doesn't take much digging to find out more than you may want an employer to know, which is why it's important to police your image from time to time. Make sure you know what others are posting about you and the types of photos you are tagged in. Get rid of any ones you don't want employers to see and always be smart about what you tweet and post.